1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exercise equipment, and more particularly relates to a baseball training and exercise apparatus to improve strength and batting skills.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Exercise machines for increasing strength are well known in the art. Exercise devices for increasing body strength include free weights, weight machines and isometric devices. A baseball player may use any or all of the above-identified exercise means in order to increase strength to create a more powerful swing.
One of the disadvantages of building strength through the use of weights or weight machines is that batting skills, and particularly hand/eye coordination, are not improved. Known exercise devices for increasing strength require little or no coordination and are merely repetitive exercises having no nexus with the skills required for batting. Thus, in order to improve batting skills, devices such as batting tees and pitching machines for batting practice are commonly used.
One of the most important skills a baseball batter requires is hand/eye coordination. An effective batter must make contact between a cylindrical portion of a barrel of a baseball bat and a round baseball sometimes traveling in excess of 90 miles an hour. Hitting a baseball has been said to be one of the most difficult skills in any sport. To improve hand/eye coordination and become a better hitter, most baseball players use pitching machines or batting tees to practice their swing and improve coordination. This type of batting practice may increase a ball player's ability to make contact with a pitched baseball; however, these exercises do not substantially increase the strength of the ball player. Accordingly, although the ball player may become more adept at making contact with the baseball, he will still need to work out with an exercise machine or weights to increase body strength. It is desirable to increase body strength to thereby increase bat speed and power when batting.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have an exercise apparatus which increases body strength while at the same time improves a ball player's batting skills, including hand/eye coordination. In this manner, a single exercise session would both increase a batter's power as well as his ability to make contact with a pitched ball.